#INTEL - Hot-Looking Audi Q5 Test Mule Caught Rounding Nurburgring

Auto Motor und Sport has run a collection of photos of the Q5 above, caught rounding the Nurburgring Nordschleife and doing high-speed testing. We'll admit, while the crossover segment has left us cold at times, seeing this Q5 with large 20-inch wheels, lower suspension, Audi's beefier Euro-only off-road optics kit with flares and aluminum accenting makes us get it. That was even before we noticed the cut-out openings with what looks like large intercoolers.

Now that we've got your attention, we must admit that, while this car is definitely a test mule, it is not a test mule for Audi. A not so well kept secret is that Porsche plans a smaller crossover/SUV below the Cayenne that's been code-named Cajun. This car's license plate beginning with "LB" is like no other mule run by Audi and consistent with mules run by Porsche. A, M und S confirms this though offers little detail what engine might be powering this particular mule.

So What Do We Think?
Aside from wanting to go out and buy a Q5 2.0T tomorrow and make it look like this (maybe paint those flares) as well as bump it with a KO4 conversion as our next project car, we're actually happy to confirm that there's more to come in the performance department of Audi's hot-selling Q5. The 3.0T and 3.0 TDI are both foregone conclusions in the car, likely at the time of facelift. Further, maybe, just maybe, Audi is considering some sort of higher-performance S-like model much in the vein of the Q7 V12 TDI (meaning high-performance, not meaning V12). Either way, we're hooked.

Read more at Auto Motor und Sport after the jump and thanks QARSI.de for the tip.